Facebook VC: No Rush For More $, Would Work W/Google

An update from Facebook investor and board member Jim Breyer: The company doesn't need to raise more money, won't go public for at least another 14 months, and isn't afraid of Google's OpenSocial platform -- and may be willing to join it.

We chatted with Jim last night at a dinner to promote Global Grind, the hip-hop oriented "start page" that he's invested in via his Accel Partners. But several of us had questions about Facebook, where Accel has an 11% stake and Jim himself owns another 1% (TechCrunch's Erick Schonfeld has his own take here). Jim was happy to oblige...
---JUMP---
• Contrary to earlier reports,
Facebook hasn't raised another $500 million in addition to MSFT's $240
million, and may not raise any more money at all. The company doesn't
need any more cash to fuel operations, Jim says, but would consider
another raise if it was from a strategic partner. How much? We got a non-committal shrug here, followed by: "$50
million, $100 million, $200 million."

• No IPO till 2009 at the earliest.

•
Facebook would consider joining Google's OpenSocial platform; Jim said
that the company isn't philosophically opposed to what Google is trying
to do, and that its business model isn't dependent on keeping its
social network gated. He also acknowledged that users will want to be
able to port their data, networks, connections, etc from Facebook to
other networks, and vice versa, and suggested that something like that
may be possible within a year. Nothing in the way of specifics here but
the message was clear: We're not afraid of Google/MySpace/Ning/etc, and we're not going to be "out-opened" by them.

•
Facebook apps: More impressive stuff coming within the next year -- via
the fbFund (a Facebook-sponsored angel program for Facebook apps), he's
seeing not only college kids with lightweight apps but grown-up
engineers working on serious stuff.